SPONSOR:	Rep. Jaques & Sen. Venables
	Reps. Hocker, Kowalko, Miro, Mitchell, Mulrooney, Osienski, B. Short, M. Smith; Sens. Blevins, Cloutier, Connor, Peterson, Sokola, Sorenson

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

146th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 324

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 7 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO FINFISH.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE (Two-thirds of all members elected to each house thereof concurring therein):

Section 1. Amend Subchapter VI, Chapter 7, Title 7 of the Delaware Code by adding thereto a new section 796 as indicated by underlining as follows:

§ 796. Trade in shark fins; penalty

(a) For the purpose of this section:

(1) ‘Shark’ shall mean any species of the subclass Elasmobranchii; and

(2) ‘Shark fin’ shall mean the raw, dried or otherwise processed detached fin, or the raw,

dried or otherwise processed detached tail, of a shark.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall possess, sell, offer for sale, trade or distribute a shark fin.

(c) A person may separate a shark fin from any lawfully-landed shark during the ordinary course of preparing the shark’s body, or body parts other than the fins, for consumption, sale, trade, or distribution, except that any shark fins so separated from a landed shark shall be immediately disposed of through destruction.

(d) The Department may issue scientific permits pursuant to section 911 of this title, for the possession of a shark fin for bona fide scientific research purposes.

(e) Any shark fin seized by the Department through the enforcement of this section shall be destroyed by the Department, and not sold, upon forfeiture.

(f) Whoever violates this section shall be guilty of a class B environmental misdemeanor for each offense.

Section 2. This Act takes effect on January 1, 2013.

SYNOPSIS

This bill forbids the possession, sale, offer for sale, and distribution of shark fins in the State of Delaware. While shark finning (whereby a shark is caught, its fins cut off and the carcass dumped back in the water) is already prohibited by federal law and Delaware regulations, the possession, sale or distribution of shark fins is not. By prohibiting trade in shark fins, Delaware can help to reduce the supply and demand, and hence contribute to ending this barbaric practice throughout the region and the world.